


Something to Think About

by opheliarose



Series: Cerulean and Steel [2]
Category: Wallflower Series - Lisa Kleypas
Genre: F/M, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-31
Updated: 2021-01-31
Packaged: 2021-03-18 10:34:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29116821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opheliarose/pseuds/opheliarose
Summary: Sebastian St. Vincent promises to give Lillian Bowman something to think about, but what happens when another Wallflower does the same for him?
Relationships: Evangeline Jenner/Sebastian St. Vincent
Series: Cerulean and Steel [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2136375
Comments: 1
Kudos: 14





	Something to Think About

“Have I robbed you of the power of speech?” asked Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent of the delectably stubborn American heiress, Lillian Bowman. The two had stolen away to the gardens of Stony Cross Park after Lillian’s waltz with Sebastian’s best friend, Marcus, Earl of Westcliff, had left her aching in more ways than one. 

It had been surprisingly easy to tempt her to the garden. Almost disappointingly so. He had not planned on making an advance, but the sad way she had looked at him and asked, no, begged him to soothe her pain, had inspired him to dutifully act with hands and mouth. Her plea to simply make her feel something had been too tempting for a seasoned libertine to resist. Kissing an innocent was an altogether different experience. Her lips were full and untainted by the hard lines of disappointment. 

He had swallowed her unshed tears and, true to his word, given her something to think about. She was a pleasant distraction and, with luck, would be something even better. A friend. 

As he released Lillian Bowman and watched her retreat, Sebastian watched her with a frozen smile. 

Despite his reputation, he was quite unused to dabbling with a maiden. He was almost disheartened at how easy it was. How performative and practiced. 

But perform he must. Lillian Bowman was the wealthiest heiress in his acquaintance, though her lack of title and rough manners made her dynamite to the rest of the ton, ready to explode at a moment’s notice. That made two of them.

It had to be done. They were so alike. Two souls damned to never be satisfied. They deserved each other. 

She was the perfect subject for marriage. Her mother had been so easy to enthrall and Lillian herself had melted in his arms, as all women did eventually. 

Why then, could he not shake the feeling that he was condemning all present parties to the gallows of misery? 

He heard a rustling in the trees. Fearing it was Westcliff come to stake his claim to the girl he would not court, Sebastian lazily remained immobile. 

But the figure approaching was delicate and sure-footed. The moon and lantern light caught a glow of shocking red hair, like a torch being passed to him. 

“Good evening, Miss Jenner,” said Sebastian in a droll tone that did not betray his surprise nor amusement. 

Sebastian had seen her decorating the walls once more during tonight’s ball. She was dressed in a shade of rose that contrasted with her brilliant hair and blended with her skin. So much so that one could almost picture her unclothed. Not that he had, of course. 

Before this dalliance with Lillian Bowman, the notion to woo Miss Jenner had not escaped his mind. Yet looking at her in the ballroom and looking at her now, with those round blue orbs peering at him so inquisitively, so innocently, he was reminded why he had not. 

Lillian could be a friend, an amusement, a salvation. Evangeline was so delicate, the very embodiment of innocence. It should have been wildly tempting to a rake like him, and it was. Yet for whatever reason her flame had lit a spark of conscience in him. 

Lillian Bowman was easy prey, wounded and in need. Evangeline had built an invisible yet impenetrable fortress around herself that he could not, would not, breech. 

“I knew we had company,” he said with characteristic amusement and more than a hint of admiration. “If you had given me warning I might have snatched the whole bottle of champagne.”

Evangeline just kept looking at him with those piercing eyes as though she thought to lure him in like a siren. He had to concede she was doing a damn fine job. He stepped closer. 

“I-I had to b-be sure Lillian made it back s-safely,” She stuttered. Her famous flaw. 

It was the first time he had heard her speak. 

He frowned at her, unsure what the fuss was about. If anything, it suited her soft nature. Her voice was just as sweet as the rest of her. 

“Ah, yes,” he replied. “Good of you to brave the presence of a notorious fiend to ensure your friend’s virtue. I would expect no less.”

He smirked as the question of whether or not she had come upon the Shaws’ tryst came to mind. The inquiry was on the tip of his tongue when she took a silken step forward. 

“W-why do you toy with her, m-my lord? Is it not enough that the Earl has made a-sport of her?”

Sebastian looked at her in surprise. He had expected the wallflower to wilt in his presence, not bloom to meet him. She really was a most delightfully perplexing puzzle. 

“She n-needs to m-marry,” she continued. “W-we all do. We h-have to. We cannot be like you and take our f-fill of p-pleasure. This is a cruel amusement when so many other ladies would gladly g-give themselves.”

He wanted to ask her if she was one of said ladies. If she would sacrifice her virtue for her friend on this picnic table like an altar and allow him to ravish her in the garden. He wanted to frighten her off. He wanted to keep her here in the moon fall that cast an iridescent glow over her skin. 

“Ah, so you are the martyr come to appease the beast? Or have you not realized that we are utterly alone?” His eyes gleamed in the candlelight with wicked mirth. 

Triumphantly, he watched her impossibly blue eyes widen at that. 

“Y-you w-wouldn’t dare,” she stammered. 

“Oh?” he raised a brow in challenge. “And how do you know what I will and will not dare in the solitary company of a beautiful woman, my sweet?”

She rose to her full height, barely meeting his shoulder. 

“You n-needn’t f-flatter me like one of your c-conquests,” she flushed. “I am not a b-beauty nor a m-martyr. I am just a cons-scerned friend. D-Despite your villainy, I know you are not a f-fool. I only ask that you show some k-kindness to my friend and to yours and leave Miss Bowman be. You only cause pain to her, Lord Westcliff...and to yourself.”

“I?” he scoffed. “What have I to fear of pain?”

“I-I know you do not l-love her. But you do love Lord Westcliff. Your soul may not yet be l-lost, but it will be if you take this step. Desist.”

Instead of betraying his surprise, he smiled. 

“You are a surprisingly fierce negotiator, my sweet. Woe be the suitor who crosses you.”

“No. Woe be the man who stands in the way,” she retorted. This time Sebastian’s eyes widened. 

“Clever girl,” his lips turned up mockingly, but he felt inclined to bow his head instead. 

No. The usual flatteries would not do for her. 

“I mean, well spoken, my dear. You are right of course. But I am afraid that I always see my endeavors through, no matter how ill-fated. Please rest assured that my plots do not revolve around ruining your friend.”

“Then what is your intention?”

“This is for us to find out. Good things to those who wait and such,” he teased conspiratorially. He could have sworn the ghost of a smile ghosted her lips, but vanished sure as a specter. 

She continued to peer up at him behind those long auburn lashes. Sebastian had an overwhelming urge to claim her mouth with his own and give her a thing or two to think about just as he had her friend. His kiss with Lillian had been pleasant, but routine. Were he to kiss Miss Jenner, he would take his time. A hurried tryst in the gardens would not do, at least not at first. No, he would lead her behind the rose bushes and gently caress her petaled lips before meeting them with his own. He could do it. Even now as she timidly challenged him, he felt the air between them grow thick and heavy. He could steal her away and coax pleasure from her trembling tongue before allowing his hands to explore the untainted canvas of her skin. 

But as she commanded, he desisted. 

“Well, when you do figure it out, be sure to inform me. By letter, of course,” Evangeline said with a shy smile.

“Letters?” Sebastian blinked.

“They're a marvelous invention. One that ensures two people needn’t be alone in the same room together.” 

“It sounds like a terribly dull invention. But for your sake, my dear, I shall consider it.”

She nodded and, wordlessly, turned to leave. 

“Before you retreat, Miss Jenner, might I add an addendum or two?” She did not face him, but stood frozen in place like one of the Marsden mermaid statues that decorated the fountains. It was best she didn’t face him, lest he be drowned. 

“I must respectfully disagree with your statement that you are not a beauty. In fact, might I be so bold as to suggest quite the opposite? And might I also add that you should stop trying to blend in with the walls? Pink does not suit you although,” he surveyed how the color blended with her flushed neck, “it has its charms.” 

She paused a moment longer. He thought she had really turned to stone before she finally replied, “What would you suggest?”

“Blue, of course.” He did not hesitate.

She turned her head to face him, fixing him with her fathomless gaze. 

“For your eyes, my sweet,” he added softly. 

After a moment of unspoken agreement and something else he understood but could not quite define, Evangeline nodded her head, giving him a last interrogative glance before turning on her heel. 

Inexplicably, he wished one satin shoe would fall behind in her haste, like Perrault’s little cinder girl’s calling card. A reminder she had been here and not a champagne and candlelight-induced mirage. 

As she disappeared into the bushes, he smiled as a curious revelation occurred to him. Some time during the course of their conversation, Evangeline Jenner had stopped stammering.

The following morning at breakfast, Evangeline wore cerulean.


End file.
